Spicy Chorizo and Pinto Bean Chili

I had a package of fresh chorizo sausages in the fridge. Using them for a delicious bowl of chili seemed a pretty good idea to me!

I got inspired by the recipe found here on Serious Eats and only needed to made a couple of small changes to the recipe. As it turned out that I was out of regular chili powder, I settled for a “world” mix of chili powders from the pantry: Japanese shichimi togarashi, South American picadillo and Spanish pimenton dulce. Furthermore, Worcestershire sauce was used instead of Asian fish sauce.

What worked and what didn’t:This quick chili recipe is really, really good. Despite the short cooking time (45 minutes), it has loads of flavour and quite a kick and smokiness from the different chili powders. After cooking it may seem to be a bit wet due to the addition of the chicken stock, but after reheating the chili the second day that had fully resolved itself and the flavours were even more intense and layered. Delicious!

Recipe accuracy:
This quick chili is on the table within the hour. The recipe is accurate, serves 4 persons, and is dead simple too: just fry off a pound of fresh chorizo sausages until broken down, add 1 chopped onion, 2 minced garlic cloves and fry until soft, then in with 1 tbsp dried oregano, 1 tbsp ground cumin and 3 tbsp chili powder and one bayleaf. When combined, the 400g / 12oz can of tomatoes, 2 x 400g /12oz cans of beans of choice (rinsed!), 250ml / 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce follow and let the whole thing simmer and reduce for another 30 minutes.

Suggested tweaks:Nope, just serve with your favourite toppings (I used a dollop of sour cream, some avocado slices, a sprinkling of coriander leaves, crumbled feta cheese and some taco chips) and bon appetit!!